We have reached the Christmas episode of SNL, which is also the midpoint of the
season and the last SNL of 2014! This
season had a bit of an okay start but it has proved to be a pretty strong start
to the season. Last week, it was first time host Martin Freeman with first time
musical guest Charli XCX. I was impressed with the episode and Martin Freeman
would be someone I would like to see host again in the future.
Some highlights from the last episode
include:
-A
new version of Santa Claus named “Sump’n Claus”.
-A
hybrid parody of the UK version of The
Office and The Hobbit movies.
-A
new Weekend Update character for
Cecily Strong, which also has a ridiculously long name.
-The
return of “Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy”.
The Christmas episode this season is
returning host Amy Adams with returning musical guests One Direction. I
remember seeing Adams host before and thought that she did a pretty good job. I
also like a lot of her work so I knew she was going to be a good host. As for
One Direction, they’ve always had good performances and have been known to show
up in a sketch so that was something I pretty much expected. I like One
Direction but I wish they went with a different musical guest, only because
they were here last season when Paul Rudd was the host. It’s nothing against
One Direction, I just think they could’ve had a different musical guest. One
Direction did have great performances as well as Amy Adams so I was impressed
with this episode.
Sketch
Rundown:
Dr.
Evil Cold Open:
I loved how the cold open started with “A
Very Somber Christmas with Sam Smith”. It was a great way to see Taran’s Sam
Smith impression. I didn’t expect Mike Myers to appear as Dr. Evil but it fits
in with spoofing the Sony hacks. Some of my favorite quotes from the cold open
include “Sony, North Korea, it’s time to get a Trapper Keeper and some loose
leaf ‘cause I’m about to take you to school!”, “There’s already a GOP and they’re
already an evil organization.” and “They haven’t had a hit since the Walkman.”
I really loved this cold open and this was one of my favorite cold opens of the
season.
Amy
Adams Monologue:
Even though I’m not a huge fan of Amy
Adams I thought her monologue was entertaining. I didn’t expect to see Kristen
Wiig make another appearance this season but she was still great. I thought the
song during the monologue was fitting due to this being the Christmas episode
and with Adams’ background in singing. I genuinely thought Kristen was going to
hurt herself while doing the splits. I thought this was a very strong monologue
and the final number really got me into the Christmas spirit.
Asian
American Doll:
I liked this ad parody and thought it was
very funny. I thought this was an interesting take on a doll. I liked the pull
string, the empty dream house, and the two harmless accessories. Some of my
favorite quotes from this sketch include “We had to have a lot of sensitivity
meetings about this doll,” “It’s Asian American doll, we made her from a place
of fear!” and “I specifically said no gong!” I thought this was a very funny ad
parody.
Viral
Family:
I thought this was a funny take on
families making viral music videos. I thought the matching Christmas sweatpants
were funny. I loved the idea of Kyle’s character Dave thinking he was a dog as
well as Kate’s facial expressions. I don’t know how I feel about Kenan’s
character. I thought his character was funny but I thought the character was
awkwardly placed in the sketch. Some of my favorite quotes from this sketch
were “I got nervous and the room started to spin. Matt Lauer asked a question
and I puked on him.” and “She wants to hurt her daddy. In my Christmas
sweatpants.” I thought this sketch was funny but it wasn’t my favorite sketch.
Christmas
Serial:
I figured they were going to do a parody
of this podcast because of its popularity. I started listening to Serial the
day after this episode since many people have said that Cecily’s impression of
Serial host Sarah Koenig was a spot on impression. After listening to Serial, I’m
inclined to agree. I loved Cecily’s impression and all of the other impressions
in this sketch. This sketch parodied the podcast so well and got everything
down to the Mail Chimp sponsor. I loved how they tried to recreate Kris Kringle
flying around the world in a sleigh. I thought this was a great parody and
thanks to this sketch I’m officially obsessed with Serial.
Girlfriends
Talk Show:
I really like “Girlfriends Talk Show” and
this had to be my favorite one out of all of them. I could relate to Morgan
during this “Girlfriends Talk Show” now more than ever. I expected One
Direction to make an appearance in a sketch and this seemed like the perfect
sketch for them to make an appearance. I loved the quotes “This is a girl trap,
I can feel it,” and “They’re all my ex-boyfriends.” I thought making One
Direction all of Kyra’s ex-boyfriends was hilarious. As I mentioned before,
this is my favorite “Girlfriends Talk Show” out of all of the “Girlfriends Talk
Show” sketches.
Office
Christmas Party:
I thought this was a funny sketch. It
definitely had a “Lonely Island” feel to it. I loved the quotes “The boss is
making it rain gift cards!” and “Why is there a goat in here?” I loved this
sketch. The song was very catchy and it was fun to see Pete rap.
One
Direction “Night Changes” Performance:
Even though I’m not as big of a One
Direction fan as I was when songs like “What Makes You Beautiful” came out, I
liked the song and I liked the performance. The only complaint I had was that I
didn’t like Harry’s hat and I thought it was kind of funny how Harry didn’t get
the memo to wear all black. I loved the song and thought the performance was
great.
Weekend
Update:
I thought this Weekend Update had a strong start. I figured there would be a bunch
of North Korea jokes because of the Sony hacks. I thought Bobby as Kim Jong-Un
was funny. I also thought the laser pointers were great as well as Bobby saying
to Colin to call him Seth Rogen was also funny. I loved Michael Che’s joke which
resulted in the punch line, “Now That’s was Jost Calls Music!” I did like Kenan’s
character Willie and thought it was funny. I loved getting to see Garth and Kat
again, as they were a great surprise. I thought Fred and Kristen constantly
breaking was hilarious. I thought this Weekend
Update was one of the stronger ones of the season, so far.
A
Very Cuban Christmas:
I thought this sketch was good. I loved
Cecily’s Gloria Estefan impression as well as Taran’s Pitbull impression. I
thought Bobby as Hurley from Lost was
great and seemed random. Pete was cute and funny as his character. Kate as
Diana Nyad was awesome. Kenan as Cuba Gooding, Jr. was a great comedic touch in
a sketch about celebrities of Cuban descent. I also thought Fred as Raul Castro
and Beck as Fidel Castro were great. I loved the quote “Jews, Jew driving me
crazy!” I liked this sketch and thought this was a good sketch to show after Update.
One
Direction “Ready to Run” Performance:
I thought this was another good song and
another great performance by One Direction. My only complaint is about Harry’s
hat and how I’m disappointed that he either didn’t get rid of the hat or wear a
different hat.
Singing
Sisters:
I liked this sketch but I felt like it had
a weird start. It was one of those sketches that had to be watched a second
time to fully understand the joke. I thought the short musical numbers were
funny. I also thought the raccoon puppets at the end of the sketch were cute. I
loved the quotes “If I guess wrong, I get to yum-yum garbage.” It was a good
sketch but it wasn’t one of my favorites.
Whiskers-R-We:
I’m so glad this became a reoccurring sketch.
I loved this sketch the first time when Charlize Theron hosted last season.
This sketch always has great quotes and cat puns, also the cats are always
cute. I loved the quotes “She uses the luo-ter box,” “She has a wicked sense of
humor and she’s fifty-five years old. She’s going through menopaws,” “We call
this cat Cat Stevens because he has a beautiful voice and because he recently
converted to hard core Islam,” “Bobo’s out of this world,” “I am not a cat, I
am a man!” and “Cat prices start as low as we give you twenty dollars.” I loved
this sketch and thought it was a great way to end the show.
Overall, I thought this was a strong
episode. It was a great way to end the first half of the season. Even though
this episode was no Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake from last Christmas I
was still very impressed by both Amy Adams and One Direction. I know I can’t
wait to see what’s in store for the second half of the fortieth season of SNL.
This has been my take on the Christmas
episode of SNL hosted by Amy Adams
with musical guest One Direction. I’ll be back next year with a review of the
first episode of SNL of 2015 hosted
by Kevin Hart with musical guest Sia. Please spread the word about the blog and
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Thanks for reading!
Lauren
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